Trauma
by firecat410
Summary: Summary: Sherlock has returned from the dead only to find John unable to trust him. To make things worse a string of murders, all with WWII references, plagues London and Lesterade puts the duo in charge of a traumatized witness who refuses to speak. But when John disappears soon after will Sherlock be able to solve the case or will he lose everything hee fought to save?
1. Chapter 1

A/N Hello Ladies and Germs! Its me again with a new story. I like this one and had fun writing it so please no flames. Pwease! Hope you all enjoy and I'm posting chapters in three-day intervals. (Curse my obsession with the number 3). Enjoy the strangeness of this topic and the Johnlock to come!

1.

For the last two months eighteen people were found brutally murdered. Each murder had a reference to World War 2, whether it be a weapon used during that time or direct display, such as the three Japanese men that were found spread out on a Japanese military flag with "Emperor Hirohito" written in blood all around their bodies, or the holocaust. There were no leads, witnesses, or suspects and Sherlock was angry.

They were sitting in the living room, John reading the paper, Sherlock in his mind palace, when the phone beeped.

COME NOW! ANOTHER MURDER WITH WITNESS! -Lesterade

Sherlock instantly emerged from his mind palace when John read the text aloud. John was already by the door, cane in hand, ready to leave. Sherlock winced inwardly at the sight of the cane but threw on his coat and headed out the door. Ever since Sherlock had returned from the dead John has refused to be intimate with him and relied heavily on his cane. It tore Sherlock to shreds every day. Once they hailed a cab and were situated in it Sherlock risked an attempt to hold John's hand like they used to. As soon as their fingers touched John jerked his hand away, as if shocked, and Sherlock's heart broke a bit more.

When they arrived at the crime scene they thought they were prepared for the horrors awaiting them. All the crime scenes made by this killer were horrific. but this one was by far the worst. Two young men, twin brothers, and a young woman were found starved and tortured in an alleyway. One of the brothers was positioned on a giant painted pink triangle and the other on a giant black triangle. The young girl was laid over a star of David made from a yellow and blue triangle. All three were starved and tortured and wearing what looked like striped pajamas.

John fought back his gag reflex and Sherlock glared at the scene, angry that the killer was not yet caught.

"Donovan won't come over." Lesterade stated as he walked over to them, "too upsetting for her."

John nodded "I-I can see why."

Sherlock walked over to the bodies. "They were killed with a Luger, a German gun used in World War Two. But this one is more toward the holocaust than the others. As for the triangles the pink stands for homosexual, the black for an asocial, and the yellow and blue for a Jewish emigrant." He gently stroked the young girl's hair and felt his chest clench. "I'm going to find this bastard!" He turned to Lesterade, "clearly this is a reference to the holocaust. They are wearing the uniforms of the camp victims and they've clearly been treated like the victims. These triangles were some of the more common ones found in the camp. The deductions haven't changed. The murderer is thirty-five and owns three cats two dogs and one snake. He has a mental illness either OCD or Asperger syndrome maybe both. He's obsessed with World War Two and wants to take revenge on the world around him. He has a partner, his boyfriend, whom he abuses constantly because of his hatred of his homosexuality. The boyfriend is thirty to thirty-three years old. Nothing new same information." he glared at the crime scene. "Why hasn't he left anything new behind?!"

A lightbulb went off in John's mind and he turned to Lesterade. "You said we have a witness!"

Sherlock's head shot up and Lesterade sighed. "We do but she won't be of much help."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N OMG I got a review. I almost died of happiness. Then i saw all the followers and I did die and am posting this from the grave. Oh and I realized im going out of town in one week so guess what that means? Thats right a new chapter every day (until it ends of course). **

**ENJOY!**

2.

He led them over to a young girl, eleven years old, who was sitting in the back of an ambulance. She was rocking back and forth gently and a blank haze was in her eyes. A paramedic informed them that she was in shock and to be careful of Valkyrja. Before they could ask what that meant Anderson yelped and pointed at the girl's wrist. What they had previously assumed to be a weird bracelet was now moving, revealing itself to be a snake.

"Well I'm assuming that's Valkyrja," muttered Lesterade.

"Yep," said the medic, "but that's all she'll tell us."

"Ah a desert king. Quite beautiful," was Sherlock's response.

All John could manage was, "w-why does she have a snake?"

Lesterade sighed. "Well I don't know the answer to that but you're in charge of her."

Sherlock and John looked at him, "What?!"

He put his hands up in defense, "She won't talk to anyone. I figured you two should take her home," he gestured to the two brothers, "they are, well were, her only family so she's got no one now. Just take her with you and see what you discover."

Sherlock glared at him and John stared at him incredibly confused.

"Why should we take her in? She'll get over their deaths eventually. Just send her to a foster home or something and call us when she decides to give some information and not be so pathetic," Sherlock yelled.

Lesterade snapped then, fed up with Sherlock, the case, the tension, and all the anxiety that had built since Sherlock returned from the dead. " Well maybe it could be a bonding exercise for you two! My God the tension has been incredibly thick since you've returned," he gestured to Sherlock, "it's been three months get through it!"

John's face turned red. "Well I'm sorry! But I just can't trust him after he did that. It's good to know that I mean so little to him that he can fake his death and not give a second thought about how it will affect me!" He screamed. Sherlock, Lesterade, and Anderson, who had been there the whole time, were shocked. John ignored them and walked over to the girl with the snake.

He breathed deeply and smiled, "hi there."

The girl looked up and met his eyes but said nothing.

"You're going to come home with me and my friend until we find a place for you to go okay?"

After receiving no response John sighed and gently took the girl's hand and pulled her up from the ambulance.

The girl stared, clearly unable to process what was happening around her, but allowed herself to be led away by John. He hailed a cab and just before he got in it he turned to Sherlock and said, "get yourself another cab." With that he got in the cab and headed back to 221B Baker Street.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Ok this has been one of the weirdest weeks of my life. I havent been home for more than seven hours since I posted the last chapter and had no access to a computer at all. I'm so sorry for not keeping up on my promise so here's a few chapters for you all to enjoy! I promise all the chapters will be up by Monday. This promise I will keep! *determined face***

3

The next morning

Sherlock lay on the couch deep in his mind palace, the world around him nonexistent. Two things were on his mind. John and the case. He shoved John aside and tried to focus only on the case but John kept slipping back into view.

John, on the other hand, was sitting on the floor trying to convince the girl to talk. All he knew about her was from the two page file Lesterade had been able to find on her. She was eleven, came to England from Russia when she was seven, her parents were killed when she ten, and her name was Verochka. Thats about all the information provided about her.

"So your name is Verochka and your from Russia huh?"

No response.

"Which city in Russia are you from?"

No response.

John sighed and looked at the girl. He brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and she looked up. He leapt at the opportunity.

"Hi."

She smiled timidly. Desperate not to lose the small cooperation John decided to bring up the snake still on her wrist.

"What's your snake's name?"

"V-valkyrie." She whispered. "She's my pet. Vladimir gave her to me."

Vladimir was one of her brothers and John couldn't help the sadness that constricted his heart when she mentioned her brother.

She looked up. "V-Vladimir is dead isn't he? A-and so is Vladislav."

John nodded.

"I've got it!" Sherlock shouted jumping up from the couch.

Verochka froze and immediately stopped talking.

"Damn it Sherlock you scared her! Can't you think of others before yourself once in your life?! "

Sherlock scoffed at him "Oh please John, she'll be fine. She'll get over it."

John stared in shock at Sherlock but then shook his head.

"Fine Sherlock, just fine." He abandoned Verochka in her corner and walked over to his chair. He sat down and stared at Sherlock, "so what do you have Sherlock? What have you figured out?"

Sherlock beamed, "One of the abandoned hotels around London! The basement specifically. One of them is the perfect place for these crooks to hold their victims and all the evidence points to it. The asbestus on the victims and the plaster on them. It makes sense!"

John nodded "It does. But that wasn't found on the victims of the past five murders."

Sherlock shot up from his chair "Yes but the hotels will at the least give us clues for the more recent murders. We'll split up and cover more ground."

John nodded again the empty feeling still inside him. "Alright that works," he stood up, took Verochka's arm and walked to the door, "let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

4.

John sprinted through the hotel trying to figure out how he always ended up in these situations. Verochka was right on his heels. He had planned on putting Mrs. Hudson in charge of Verochka only to discover she wasn't home. Since he refused to leave an eleven year old who was in shock alone in an unfamiliar place he decided to bring her with them and leave her outside the hotel in a safe place since he believed it would take twenty minutes at the most. However after thirty minutes of being left alone Verochka had gone looking for him and ended up, not only, joining him on his investigation of the Ambrosia hotel, but also in being chased by the killers.

He turned a corner and ran into one of the rooms Verochka following. He ran over to the window only to find that they had ended up on the fifth floor.

"Well thats out of the question."

He grabbed his cell phone and sent out a group message to Sherlock and Lesterade.

In Ambrosia Hotel! Killers are here! Need backup now! -JW

He pocketed the cell phone and grabbed his gun. He motioned to Verochka to follow him. They slipped out into hallway and were immediately met by the second killer. He stood there looking sad and helpless. He had his gun raised to John but lowered it and motioned to the door marked 'STAIRS' that was a few feet in front of him. John nodded gratefully and burst through it. They made it to the front lobby only to hear the sound of a gun going off. John felt his back burn and collapsed quickly taken over by the darkness.

...

Sherlock shook Verochka with all his might, causing the orange shock blanket to fall off her shoulders.

"Damn it! Tell me where they took him!"

Verochka was crying now and Lesterade grabbed Sherlock's collar and yanked him away.

"God's sake man she's in shock. Even if she does know she's not going to be able to tell you! Im amazed she's even still sane after what's happened to her!"

Sherlock calmed down a little but was still fuming.

"We have all our agents checking every nook and cranny of this building. They've found plenty of evidence but no trace of the victims from the past five murders.

Sherlock sighed and nodded. "That was expected," he looked at Verochka angrily, "should I take her back to the flat?"

Lesterade nodded, "be gentle with her. She'll give you the information you need eventually."

Sherlock looked at him and said, "we don't have time for eventually. We need it now."


	5. Chapter 5

5.

Verochka woke up and crawled out of the bed she had somehow ended up in. She went downstairs and found Sherlock sitting on the couch looking very distressed. She stared at him for a few minutes and eventually decided to speak.

"You love him don't you?"

Sherlock looked up at her surprised.

"Yes I do."

She walked over and sat in front of him.

"The first man let us go. He was hurt and scared. I felt bad for him."

Sherlock's eyes widened but he said nothing.

"The second one was stronger. He was tall too. At least three 20 centimeters more than John. He was bald and had a scar across his right eye. His left hand kept twitching weirdly. He shot John and hit the other man for letting us get away. Then he grabbed John and made the other man carry him out. They said that it was time for the picture. I hid under a table."

Sherlock nodded and a lightbulb went off in his head. "Of course! The twitching explains the need for a partner! Thats what I was missing! His father fought in World War Two and he suffered from PTSD when he came home. He used to beat his son, the murderer, which caused his son to hate the war and everyone involved in it. He blamed the war for his pain. This caused his vengeance. This is the missing link."

He stood up and paced around the room quickly, "bomb shelters were common to have during the second world war. The dominant killer's father definitely would have had one. If the son wants to recreate situations from the war to make others feel the pain his father had to feel then he would," he paused for a moment and suddenly his expression changed. "Of course that explains it! The hotel basements served like bomb shelters but he found a real one! That's where the recent murders have been taking place!"

Verochka nodded and pretended to know what was happening. "A-alright. But what does a picture have to do with anything?"

"I'm not sure." Sherlock said as he blasted a text to Lesterade with the information about the suspects, "we can figure that out after we find the shelter they're using."

"W-what if they're going to recreate a scene from World War Two? Like from one of those famous pictures?"

Sherlock's head shot up and he thought for a minute. "Yes! Yes that makes sense!"

He grabbed her and hugged her.

"You are not a stupid person!"He yelled as he grabbed his coat and ran out of the flat almost crashing into Mrs. Hudson who was walking into the flat at that same moment.

Mrs. Hudson stared at Verochka confused.

"Mrs. Hudson, this is Verochka. She's a near victim of the killers I'm chasing. Watch her and be careful she's not stupid like normal people are,' and with that he ran out of the room.

Verochka looked horribly confused.

Mrs. Hudson chuckled, "oh don't worry sweetheart. That last part was a compliment. Tea?"


End file.
